248 COCCYSTES JACOB1NUS. 



with these birds at Aripu, and Layard records an instance at Port Pedro of a pair of these Babblers tending 

 a young Crested Cuckoo in a bush ; and when he drew near they flew away before him, feigning lameness, and 

 endeavoured to draw off his attention from their fosterling. An egg taken from the oviduct of a female 

 killed in the Puttalam district was of a pale greenish or faded greenish-blue colour, and measured 0*95 by 

 074 inch. 



In Aboo, Captain Butler states that they chiefly lay in the nests of the Striated Bush-Babbler (Chatarrhaa 

 caudata) and also in those of the Bengal Babbler [Malacocercus terricolor). The eggs are highly glossy and 

 closely resemble, says Mr. Hume, those of the first-named species, so that they are well fitted for deposit in 

 Babblers' nests ; in shape they are " round ovals . . . very glossy, and of a delicate full sky-blue," and 

 average ()■'.) 1 by 0~3 inch. 





